Clearly the challenge here is to focus on what you need and the solution you’re looking for, to direct your energy and attention.

Tools

Finding appropriate tools depends on the problem you’re trying to solve, of course, but here are some general categories:

Tools you have: Immediately accessible.

Tools you could borrow, rent, or acquire: Often minimal cost for the value you’ll receive.

Information tools: Especially the Internet, which contains a vast wealth of free information, if you know how to use it.

Social web: More and more, social networking tools give you great access to people who can be of great use in your career.

If you aren’t extremely comfortable with your web browser and search engines. These are the keys to opening up the limitless internet resources.

Ourselves

The most important resource you have is yourself: your intelligence, your creativity, your energy, and your attention. In fact, without tapping your internal resources, the entire rest of the list is just wasted.

Are you feeling like you don’t have enough resources to solve your problems? Start making the lists here, and you’ll quickly realize that’s not the case.